UNLV TILT WAS HUGE, BUT GAME VS. LOBOS IS BIGGER

New Mexico visits Viejas with first place at stake

Franklin was averaging 13.5 minutes in the six previous games and had responded, with 10 assists against just five turnovers. Against UNLV, though, he no assists and three turnovers in just eight minutes.

Twitter drama

Shortly after the loss, Thames’ Twitter account was hit with several less than supportive messages referencing his late turnovers.

One said: Nice job blowing the game Xavier Thames.

Within minutes, UNLV guard Anthony Marshall had his back. “Bro keep grinding,” Marshall tweeted to Thames. “Don’t let people like this distract you.”

Marshall would know. A week earlier, Marshall missed a contested layup in the closing seconds of a 68-66 loss at Wyoming and was inundated with nasty tweets from frustrated fans before he had reached the locker room — one of which said: “Make a damn layup … you suck.”

Marshall calmly replied the same way to all of them: “Thank you.”

“I understand people react emotionally,” Marshall told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week. “I use it as motivation. If you put yourself out there among the marquee programs, you’ll be loved when you win, and the haters come out when you lose. It’s a gift and a curse.”